Humphrey Urban & Regional Planning faculty build ties in China

MURP Faculty Build Ties in China (reprinted from Humphrey Herald)

Several faculty members from the Humphrey School’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program visited China this past summer to conduct research and build relationships with Chinese universities and planning organizations, and strengthen existing connections between the Humphrey School and similar institutions throughout China. Read more here about the activities of Yingling Fan, Jerry Zhao, Jason Cao, and Ed Goetz.

Several faculty members from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs' Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program visited China this past summer to conduct research and build relationships with Chinese universities and planning organizations, and strengthen existing connections between the Humphrey School and similar institutions throughout China.

Yingling Fan is developing a study abroad course that will take students to the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta regions of China in May of 2017 to examine growth patterns, housing and infrastructure issues, and transportation planning in two extremely densely populated regions. Fan traveled to China last summer to identify host universities and guest speakers for the course, and to solidify relationships with Chinese colleagues. [Note information about this course: http://globalnotes.hhh.umn.edu/2016/10/hhh-course-in-china-may-2017.html)

Jason Cao is the current chair of the International Association for China Planning (IACP), a nonprofit organization connecting Chinese planners and planning researchers with those in other countries. Cao visited 10 Chinese cities and presented at multiple conferences and universities, including a conference in Beijing hosted by the IACP, in an effort to expand the IACP network in China.

One of the keynote speakers at the IACP conference was urban and regional planning professor Ed Goetz. Goetz also gave talks in Wuhan and Xi’an, and met with housing scholars at Xi’an’s Shaanxi Normal University. This month, Goetz will return to China to give another keynote address on affordability in global cities at the Asia-Pacific Network for Housing Research conference in Guangzhou, and to visit Chongqing University in southwest China.

Associate professor Jerry Zhao visited China to build institutional ties between the Humphrey School and its counterparts in China. Zhao is president of the China-America Association for Public Affairs (CAAPA), which works to engage Chinese and American public affairs programs in research collaboration and academic exchanges. Zhao attended CAAPA-organized conferences, and gave talks and discussed potential research projects at several universities.